Public Education Is The Best Choice

Imagine what it would be like to not get to have your first day of school as a child. For a child that is home schooled, they never get to walk through the doors on their first day with a new backpack, new school supplies, and new clothes. As little as this issue may seem, is it important for people to understand the effects that homeschooling can have on the cognitive development of elementary age children because by not being exposed to the resources and relationships children can get out of public school, they lack the benefits that come along with the system. Children cannot develop their emotions and problem solving skills, which could result in them being less successful in the future. The next generation is meaningful to society because they are the ones that will help American progress, so people need to ensure that they are getting the best education for their children. Although many parents believe homeschooling can be beneficial to their children because of the convenience and closeness to home, thoroughly examining the negative effects it has including a lack in the cognitive development, limited exposure to problems associated with the public as well as not having the benefits of a relationship with teachers and other students can prove that homeschooling are harmful to the cognitive development of elementary aged children.

For years flocks of children have gotten up at the crack of dawn and gone to the brick building to sit at their desks for eight hours straight, but now a very effective style of school called homeschooling has emerged. Most of todays parents have gone to a public school because homeschooling was not very well known back when they were school aged. Since then, homeschooling has become much more popular and has been proven to be effective. Parents should consider homeschooling their kids as an alternative to sending them to a public school.

Thesis Statement: Many parents question what is best for their child’s education, home schooling or public school. Home schooling can sometimes provide a more direct and focused education than public schools, Public School is better in many ways including the child’s social development.

Before the development of the United States education system it was necessary for children to homeschool, but that time has passed. Today students have the option to attend the school that best fits them due to the process of open enrollment. The United States educational system now offers students options such as religious schools, charter schools, private schools, and public schools. Therefore, no reason exists that they can not find a decent school that meets their academic expectations. Families that homeschooled have a distinct disadvantage to families that attend public or private schools.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” are the words of Thomas Edison whom, after having his teacher claim he was not teachable, was taken out of school to be homeschooled by his mother. After some radical accounts of homeschooling gone wrong, Americans currently tend to believe this form of education is of lesser quality than to that compared of public schooling. However, this alternative option is actually a plausible choice and in some areas, could even be considered more beneficial in regards to the long run. Homeschooling has come a long way, and with the support of the government, it has offered a better choice for Americans that feel that the public school system can’t provide everything their children need. Assisted by online resources and ready-made homeschooling curriculum, homeschooling has become a popular choice with the number of students learning at home growing.

For the first 230 years of our history, parents, not the government, were in charge. Competence in reading, writing, and arithmetic was nearly universal at the time of the American Revolution. But by the mid-nineteenth century, a band of reformers led by Horace Mann of Massachusetts replaced our founding, free-market education system with a system of state-run education, with compulsory attendance and standardized curriculum. (Forstmann, 2001) Homeschooling has been around for a long time and is not going anywhere. It continues to increase as the year's pass, and it’s not slowing down. Many pioneers have fought for homeschooling, and new ones continue to surface. While the public education continues to downplay homeschooling, home educators continue to flourish in many ways by performing academically and becoming professionals in their field of study. The reasons parents chose to homeschool for religious reasons, low standard in public schools, academic advancement, and a safer environment. From my own experience with homeschooling, its beneficial for a variety of reasons. One reason would be one on one teaching according to the child’s learning style. When you compare this method to the public sector, children are receiving constant tutorial help from their parents. Receiving tutorial help doesn’t mean that the child will not know how to perform without assistance but prepares the child to study on their own and master the scope and sequence of studying. A child will have

Homeschooling is on the rise in America. According to a 2007 NHES study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education there are an estimated 1.5 million students actively being homeschooled up from the 850,000 estimated in previous study conducted in 1999 (NCES, 1). Once seen as a fringe activity usually associated with the religious right, homeschooling now encompasses many mainstream families looking for educational alternatives in the face of such issues as violence, peer pressure, and poor academic quality in many public schools. Detractors on the other hand claim that homeschooling is a less effective method of educating America’s youth citing academic and social issues. Despite critics’ claims to the contrary, homeschooling is an effective and viable method of education as its participants not only do well academically; they are well socialized and are successful in college and later life.

The greatly discussed dilemma of having a child be taught in a public school setting versus a homeschool setting has been evaluated by parents since the idea was first introduced in the 1970’s. Public schooling had been the standard method of teaching since it is a requirement for states to provide public, free education for children in grades K-12. However, the backlash against the system began when two educational theorists and supporters of school reform, John Holt and Raymond Moore, started to question both the techniques and the products of public schools. Some parents went on to support the ideas of them and began to teach their children in the environment of their own homes for several different reasons. Some included moral or religious reasons, a desire for high educational achievement, dissatisfaction with public schools’ instructional program, or concerns about drugs and peer pressure in a public school environment. Child development specialists believe that homeschooled children are isolated from the outside world, therefore making them socially handicapped. If being exposed to this type of education on an elementary school level, the child can suffer from the lack of fundamental development of effective social skills needed for a lifetime ahead of them.

The other issue with public schooling seems to be that children are dependent (to a certain point) to teach each other. They all now work in these sub-groups where the mind-set is, if one does not get it, there is someone within the group that could point him or her in the right direction. As the classroom has become a fast pasted, easy to get behind, speak now or forever hold your peace, media based environment. The days of true one-on-one building up and understanding the subject matter are long gone. This is why Homeschooling is seen as a very good alternative to just leaving your child out to tread water or sink within the public school environment. My co-worker told me of when she was a “Home Town Recruiter” and of how every now and then she would have a homeschooled prospective recruit come into the recruiting station and of how much better then would do on their practice test then those that had attended public school. This is something that I have heard since being introduced to those that are and have been home schooled(.

Those who view that home-schooling is the best option believe they can teach their children, using home examples and guiding their children through their beliefs to impart a deeper appreciation and understanding of the education and information that is presented. Susanne Allen, 35, a home-schooling mother from Atlanta, claims that being schooled at home will make her children “better citizens” because home schooling gives children the opportunity to work together rather than working individually. Allen said, “They learn to be caring for other people by seeing older siblings care for them” (Cloud par.16). Home-Schooling test scores are typically higher than public or private schools. Some believe that home-schooling is the best option because public schools breed behavioral problems. Those who choose home-schooling believe that the pros outweigh the cons.

In the modern world that we live in today, education is considered paramount. Although in the United States our education level is not nearly at the rank wed like, we still place a great emphasis on programs to shape the youth of tomorrow. There is, however, one organization for education that is not fueled by government spending homeschool. Homeschooling is a practice that is looked upon from the outside as alien simply for being different, and the stereotypical view that many hold of it is false. In fact, because of a lack of bad influences, the addition positive social effects, and outstanding academic performance, the case can be made that homeschooling is more beneficial than public schooling to students.The way that every child is started in homeschooling at a young age is because of their parents. In a survey of why parents decide to enter their children into homeschooling, 85.4 responded that it is because of a concern about the environment of other schools (Dumas 8). Things like drugs and alcohol are all accessible easily in public school from various vendors trying to get children hooked at young ages. By taking out the medium through which they transport their product, parents are removing their children from harms way. Another bad influence to children in public school is conformity. Noteworthy researcher Tanya Dumas writes that one of the primary benefits of homeschooling is the ability to tailor the education to the needs of each student and to work one-on-one

Many parents who homeschool argue that the socialization children get in public school is uncanny and possibly harmful. That any socialization is best gained through life experiences that happen with family, and should include interactions with those in a diverse group of ages. Parents that homeschool are more of the modest type in the interest of they do not want their kids to do something that could possibly get them harmed or in trouble. When homeschooling children the parents are able to choose what they learn and when they learn it. “Over 2.04 million students are now learning at

For the last several decades, there has been a great return to homeschooling. Many families have seen the need to remove their children from the public education system for a variety of reasons: for religious grounds, because of a decline of morals in the public system, or to give their children an education where they are not held back from reaching their potential. When homeschooling, a child can work at their own pace – often learning 2 years or more of material in one year and allowing them to fully explore topics that interest them. Their intellectual curiosity can be fulfilled and they can be the best they can possibly be. Students in the public school system are subjected to teaching that is repetitive, biased, and falls short of academic success. In the past, students that were failing coursework, but were getting older, were pushed on to higher grades even though they were not ready for the more advanced coursework. In the 1980’s there was a great number of graduates who could not even read. How can the proponents of the public education system even make claims that to be successful today, children need to attend their institutions? Today’s formal, public educational system of schooling is not necessary because it is a system

Homeschooling, not very well known, presents a new and affordable way to educate children. “Home school is a term used to refer to the education of children by their parents or guardians in a setting other than a public or private school” (Anderman & Anderman, p. 467). It has never been a new thing; it just has not been as popular as it used to be (Lines, p. 76). With this topic meaning so much to groups for and against the right for homeschooling and what should be legalized or not, the debate still rages on from local to even national government entities. Both sides of the argument have valid points, but ultimately it is the choice of the parents. There are many types of ways to educate children and that decision is difficult for both

In the United States, an increasing number of parents are deciding to Home School their children because they are unhappy with the quality of education offered in public schools. Moreover, parents may have other reasons why they feel that public schools are not suitable for their children such as; social interaction. Parents worry their children will suffer from bullying or will be forced into antisocial behavior by peer pressure. They believe that the good behavior they have taught the child will be lost in school. Another reason is concern over the quality of schooling available. Schools frequently have large classes. They are often under-funded, and staffed by teachers without sufficient knowledge of their subjects. Subjects such as the